All the hard work paid off!!

The lead up to lunch break involved cleverly prepared videos, artistic sketching and dedicated groups working in to their break to perfect their final presentations for their business idea.  Each of the five groups went to present in front of a panel of judges to get some valuable feedback on their business ideas.  The judging panel was made up of Brian Mcgrath, Head of the school of Business in CIT, Gerard O Donovan, Head of Faculty of Business and Humanities in CIT, Dr Noel Murray, Lecturer Marketing & International Business and Claire O Regan, Branch Manager of the Bank of Ireland CIT Branch.

Once the business pitches were over the participants received their certificates for successfully completing the enterprise camp for the week.  Dr Brendan Murphy, President of CIT congratulated the participants on their ideas and presented the certificates.

Show me the Money!

Jennifer from the on campus bank and camp sponsor, Bank of Ireland, came to deliver a session on how to finance a business start up.  Speaking to the groups about the different options available and tips on how to be money savvy offered a good grounding in the best approach to take when they are ready to progress their ideas.

The session finished with some one on one advice for each of the groups to incorporate in to their business plans.

 

Videos and Virtual Reality

Craig from the Student Inc. programme, a student entrepreneur development programme taking place over the summer months in the Rubicon centre, spoke to the enterprise camp today to talk about his new business.  Craig has spent recent months developing his company that is now focusing on developing content for tours in virtual reality.

Alex Musgrave from Dog Day Media gave an uplifting and inspiring talk to the groups about his journey into entrepreneurship, from an enthusiastic teenager to a business owner employing a full team of professionals.

Going Digital

The camp was lucky to have the expertise of Stephen Ryan, Head of Marketing for Corks Red FM to give them an overview of marketing and how important it is for business success.

Most aspects of the business depend on successful marketing.  Marketing is the process by which a product or service is introduced and promoted to potential customers and a number of examples were given to show this. Without marketing, the business may offer the best products or services in the industry, but potential customers would not know about it. Without marketing, sales may crash and companies may have to close.

Stephen has worked in marketing for a number of years and has great insight in to how that environment has evolved in recent years. The fact that today’s digital environment is now making it easier to sell to a global audience, it is more important than ever to have a presence online and communicate the business the brand through this digital environment.

There’s no ‘I’ in Team!

Jim Barry from the Barry Group came to visit the camp today to tell them the story of his business and the history going back to 1955 when the business was founded by Jim’s father.  Now the company has grown and employs over 230 people in the Mallow headquarters.

Jim spoke to groups about his strong belief that his team are just as important as the customers. The focus on effective leadership, team building and effective communication ion the company has led to a recent ‘Great Place to Work’ award, along with awards for leadership and best manged company.

 

 

Lists and lists of Ideas

An inspiring idea generation session encouraged the groups to get thinking early on day 2 about what they would like to see in the market or what is already available but could be done better! It didn’t take long for the ideas to flow and by lunch break multiple pages were full of clever ideas.  Much diplomatic debating amongst the teams have resulted in their top ideas being chosen so they research their potential over the next few days.

It will be exciting to see the business ideas develop over the week and see them presented on the final day.

Tip Tap Tap

The group finished the first day with a visit to the Nimbus research centre to Tip Tap Tap, a Cork based ed-tech company, showcasing their innovative interactive desk enhancing the way pupils learn.  The students learned how the company was formed, how the idea for the interactive desk came about and the many benefits for this technology in today’s education environment.  The interesting exhibition of the new start up finished with a demo of the product and how it will look to the end user in the classroom.

Camp Kick Off….

We have welcomed our group of enterprising teenagers in to the Rubicon centre here on the campus of Cork Institute of Technology.  The camp takes place in the centre of the busy innovation centre that houses over 60 entrepreneurs who are busy working on their businesses.  This allows the participants to become immersed in the bustling, innovative environment.

WiFi has been connected, there are Pokemon hunts at lunch break and plenty of discussions on what businesses to start…It’s going to be an eventful week!!

Getting down to Work!

After a session on getting to know their market and learning about the different methods of market research, the groups started analysing the markets for their own ideas. Learning about their competition,  their unique selling points and a pricing strategy allows the team to understand where to position themselves in the market to maximise their chances of success.

With a bit of insight in to importance of developing an on-line presence for the business, the groups thought about how they would communicate on-line and the best way to promote on these channels to appeal to their target market.

With all of the work that has been completed, all that’s left tomorrow is adding the final touches and practice, practice, practice before their final pitch.

EY Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland

In the afternoon Clair from EY Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland spoke to the camp about the work they do across Ireland promoting the value of entrepreneurship.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ (EOY) programme passionately believes in promoting entrepreneurship across our island and empowering entrepreneurs to grow their businesses both in Ireland and around the world. The EOY programme not only ensures national and international recognition for successful finalists and alumni but also provides an invaluable network and business opportunity within a 350 strong alumni community.

The camp spoke about entrepreneurs from all over the country and their experiences while setting up their businesses.